ONGOING WEB SERIES

HUDSON RIVER STORIES

NARRATED BY MARK RUFFALO

DEAR PRESIDENT OBAMA

A FILM MEMOIR BY NATALIE MERCHANT

PARADISE IS THERE

HUDSON RIVER STORIES

HUDSON RIVER STORIES

For nearly a year the historic sloop ‘Clearwater’ was out of the water, on land, enduring what wooden boats have historically endured forever: Restoration. Onshore near the Hudson River Maritime Museum on the Rondout Creek in Kingston, swathed in tarps and protective sheets, the nearly 60-year-old wooden boat was carefully mended and updated. Our OCEANS 8 film crew carefully documented the restoration and the return of the classic ship to the Hudson River.

With 520-miles of waterfront and four-out-of-five boroughs islands, New York City is truly a water city. Everywhere you go, there are tunnels and bridges delivering you over water, to such a degree some have dubbed the waterways that encircle New York City “the sixth borough.” We spent several months filming both the natural water landscape and the activists trying to improve its health. From Brooklyn’s Newtown Creek to Queens’ Flush Meadow, waterways once thought ruined forever by industrial and manmade pollution are making a comeback.

EXPEDITIONS

EXPEDITIONS

My initial request to bring kayaks to Vietnam was greeted by the government in Hanoi with five simple words: ‘That will be quite impossible.’ Unprecedented, unnecessary, unsafe, unwise, he continued. More than a year of negotiating followed, as well as a cash imbursement (‘filming permit’), before I was allowed to ship the kayaks and apply for visas for a five-person team.

A writer, filmmaker and adventurer, Jon is a six-time grantee of the National Geographic Expeditions Council. One of the Society’s ‘Ocean Heroes,’ his first assignment for National Geographic magazine in 1989 was to document a dog-sled expedition that crossed Antarctica taking 221 days. He is the founder of Oceans 8 Films and One Ocean Media Foundation. Listen to his podcast “The Green Radio Hour with Jon Bowermaster” on Radio Kingston. jon@oceans8films.com

A writer, filmmaker and adventurer, Jon is a six-time grantee of the National Geographic Expeditions Council. One of the Society’s ‘Ocean Heroes,’ his first assignment for National Geographic magazine in 1989 was to document a dog-sled expedition that crossed Antarctica taking 221 days. He is the founder of Oceans 8 Films and One Ocean Media Foundation. Listen to his podcast "The Green Radio Hour with Jon Bowermaster" on Radio Kingston. jon@oceans8films.com